


with a pail in my hand and the weight of the world on my shoulders

by DA830



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: AU where you recruit both Sonya and Deen, Because I can't stand either of them dying, Drabble, F/M, Genny lowkey ships Alm and Celica, first kiss?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 03:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13181697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DA830/pseuds/DA830
Summary: "When I was living in Ram Village, I always got stuck with fetching the water from the well," Celica recalled. The memory brought a smile to her face."Why don't you tell us about that, then?" Sonya suggested, smiling kindly back.





	with a pail in my hand and the weight of the world on my shoulders

Growing up was a wonderful thing. Learning more about yourself, your friends, all while having fun, it was all anyone could ask for.

                It was the chores that nobody could stand.

                “Kliff, you can go collect the oranges…Gray, you’d like to do that? Very well, you can pick the oranges while Kliff and Tobin can feed the sheep. The grains are in the storage shed…yes, you can go now.”

                It was time for the daily grind of doling out tasks for the kids who could; that would make just six little helpers for the time being.

                “Faye, I know you like spending time with the horses, you can check up on them if you’d like,” Mycen offered, pointing the young girl in the correct direction. She ran off, picking up her skirt as she went and waving bye to the two children left.

                Mycen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think there’s only one thing left to do…and that’s to fetch water from the well,” he finished playfully. He knew all too well that it was the least coveted chore out of all, apparent by the grimaces on Alm and Celica’s faces.

                “I’ll leave it to you two to decide who does it,” he said with a wink, turning to tend to his own horse.

                They were responsible youngsters; he was sure they’d do it one way or another.

                “You do it,” Celica said adamantly, picking up the bucket and shoving it in the green-haired boy’s direction.

                “But it’s so heavy! I’m not strong enough!” Alm whined, crossing his arms.

                She shook her head. “Then if you can’t do it, I definitely can’t do it! You’re stronger than me!”

                “Exactly!” he grinned with faint pride, face lighting up in a second. “That means you need the training!”

                She took his hand gently, tracing the shallow lines on his palm. “Not if you’re here to help me.”

                It did the trick. Alm opened his mouth and closed it after a few seconds, struggling for a retort. She saw the chance and took it.

                “Here!” She unceremoniously dumped the empty pail into his arms and made her hasty retreat. Maybe she’d go see how Faye was doing – the horses were always nice and good company.

                “Wait!”

                Well…maybe that could wait ‘til later.

                “So you won’t do it?” She tried not to sound too disappointed. Perhaps they could just do it together.

                “I want to make a deal,” he announced, holding the bucket up to the sun. It cast a shadow, cloaking his entire face in darkness.

                “What kind of deal?” Now _this_ was interesting. Her time spent reading Kliff’s mother’s library of trade books was finally going to be put to use.

                “A deal where I give you something and you get the water for the rest of your life,” he clarified, as if a lifelong contract was nothing bigger than the recipe for the sheep feed.

                “It’ll have to be something pretty big,” she said, “if I have to get it for the rest of my life.”

                “Okay, fine! For three years,” he amended, showing the numbers on his fingers.

                “Hmm…I can do that,” she agreed. “If you give me a kiss.”

                At that, he noticeably paled. “Kiss?”

                “Yes.” She was having lots of fun with this; three years was totally worth it. She tapped her lips. “On the mouth.”

                “And you’ll get the water for three years?” he said slowly. He was really considering this, wasn’t he?

                “Yep!” She confirmed. “Just one kiss.”

                One second she was smiling and watching his indecisiveness shine through, the next he was up close, green hair tickling her cheek, eyes scrunched up adorably and soft mouth pressed against hers.

                He pulled away immediately and ran off. “You have to do the water now!” he yelled over his shoulder, not lessening his speed even when he narrowly avoided being hit by Mycen on his horse.

                She smiled and bent down to pick up the overturned bucket where Alm had dropped it. He’d really done it, in his gruff and boyish sort of way.

                The clip-clopping of hooves brought her back to the moment. “What’s all the commotion about?” Mycen asked bemusedly, staring off into the direction of Alm’s timely escape.

                “It’s nothing, grandpapa!” she assured. “I was just about to get the water!”

               He clapped her on the shoulder. “Decided to do it by yourself, huh? You’re becoming quite a responsible young girl. Now, off you go!”

                She ran off, clutching the bucket with both hands. Three years was a small price to pay for this kind of compensation.

 

* * *

 

 

                “And just where is this dashing young man now, hmm, missy?”

                “He’s…gone,” she said truthfully. They were sitting in front of the fire at a rare inn back at Zofia Port. Mae and Est had been vying for at least a complete night’s rest before venturing north to the Temple, and everyone else seemed to be worn out from the desert, so she’d made the rational decision to treat them all to a one-night break from hardship and stay a night in town.

                The inn was located off the central square of the town, not too loud, but cozy and homey. They had enough rooms so that everyone could double up, or in the pegasus sisters’ case, triple up. Mae, her roommate for the night, had already retired for an early sleep, along with Deen, Est, Palla and Boey. The rest were either in the common area, lounging around and talking, or in their rooms, doing whatever they did before the vestiges of the evening faded.

                Celica had walked into the common area, praising the gods for allowing her to have clean hair again, and had been called over to sit by the fire with Sonya and Genny.

                Sonya had had her hair wrapped in a towel, the extra material draped over her shoulders like a shawl. Genny had been staring into space, chewing absentmindedly on the end of a quill, clutching a sheaf of parchment to her bosom.

                “Tell us a story about you,” Sonya had beckoned, to which Genny had snapped out of her trance and leant forward interestedly. Celica was taken aback by the abrupt question, but complied nonetheless.

                She hadn’t really been thinking about what kind of information she revealed, but before she knew it, she had finished recounting the complete story.

                Sonya cackled, although it sounded more like a cackle of the friendly variety. “I didn’t ask for such a romantic story, but we appreciate it nonetheless!”

                Celica could feel her cheeks heating up. “Oh, that’s, er, my bad.”

                “That’s so cute!” Genny gushed. “You two are such a great couple!”

                “Thanks?”

                “Don’t mention it! You’ve just become my inspiration for a new romantic story.” At that, Genny dipped her glistening quill into the pot of ink balanced precariously on the arm of the chair and began scribbling on the parchment.

                Sonya gazed at the young healer with a mixture of affection and bemusement. “How queer. Romantic, indeed.” She turned to Celica. “I should hope he’s not dead?”

                “Dead? No, no!” Celica dismissed firmly. She couldn’t even allow herself to consider anything of the sort. “Quite the opposite, in fact. The last I saw of him, he was the leader of the Deliverance in the west.”

                Sonya raised an eyebrow curiously. “And when, exactly, did you last see him?”

                “Near the end of last month,” she replied.

                If Sonya’s eyebrows could go any higher, she thought they would fly off her face. “And you didn’t stay with him?”

              “I, um…” She looked down at the wooden tiles lining the ground. “We fought and decided to go our separate ways.”

                To her surprise, she received neither rebuttal nor exclamations of regret. Instead, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to meet comforting eyes.

                “We just have to win this, right? Then you can be with him again.”

                Genny had stopped writing as well and was smiling encouragingly.

                Celica smiled back, feeling more hopeful than she ever had before. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, including “thank you”, but she simply said -

                “I hope so.”

                Sometimes, she realized, the memories she’d look back on nostalgically weren’t the ones she’d made while travelling, while visiting the far corners of Zofia, but rather the ones she’d made sitting in an inn, sharing her dreams with her friends around the crackling fire.

                And soon, hopefully, when this was all over, she’d be able to make new memories with him.

**Author's Note:**

> So after you beat the game, if you set Celica as your party leader and travel all the way back to Ram Village, you can click on the various things and she'll comment on them. If you bring her to the square and click on the well, she'll say something like "When I was younger, I always got stuck with collecting the water." That one line sorta resonated with me for some reason, so I decided I wanted to create a backstory for that line.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
